Negotiators should also keep as many options open as possible. “I never get too attached to one deal or one approach,” negotiator Trump writes in “The Art of the Deal.” “I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.” President Trump, however, seems intent on closing doors before he has an alternative lined up. He wasted no time signing an executive order that marked the United States’ withdrawal from the ­Trans-Pacific Partnership. Yes, it fulfilled a campaign pledge, but TPP was meant to give us economic leverage over China, and Trump just gave a lot of it away without lining up alternatives, thereby letting China back in the game.

Richardson also criticized Trump’s dealings with Mexico. Trump claimed throughout the campaign, and in recent days, that Mexico would pay for a border wall. The wall is estimated to cost between $8 billion and $14 billion dollars.

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U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat, entering his sixth term in office, was unanimously elected the Assistant Democratic Leader for the next Congress. In a statement, Luján said he was “honored” to be selected for that position, which makes him the number four Democrat in the House.

The state Senate on Friday approved a bill to prohibit private employers from using a job application that asks applicants about arrests or criminal convictions. The measure carried 28-11 and now advances to the House of Representatives.

The U.S. Department of Defense listed military construction projects from across the world that could lose funding under a national emergency declaration by President Donald Trump. Included among those are projects at military facilities in New Mexico.

When energy corporations produce oil, gas or coal on public lands, they make royalty payments to the federal government and the states where production takes place. In 2016, the Obama administration closed a loophole that allowed companies to dodge those fees.

Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico were in the minority in voting against what they call a fast-track for trade deals, including a deal with Pacific Rim countries that is being negotiated right now. Republicans overwhelmingly supported the bill.

Holtec International was in the news last month when the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied requests from some groups to hold an additional hearing over the company’s license to build an interim storage site in southeastern New Mexico to hold nuclear waste from commercial power plants.

Matthew Reichbach is the editor of the NM Political Report. The former founder and editor of the NM Telegram, Matthew was also a co-founder of New Mexico FBIHOP with his brother and one of the original hires at the groundbreaking website the New Mexico Independent. Matthew has covered events such as the Democratic National Convention and Netroots Nation and formerly published, “The Morning Word,” a daily political news summary for NM Telegram and the Santa Fe Reporter.
Matthew has appeared as a panelist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ New Mexico Chapter’s panel on covering New Mexico politics and the legislature.
A native New Mexican from Rio Rancho, Matthew’s family has been in New Mexico since the 1600s.